Smile
by QTXAdsy
Summary: Etcetera is still feeling depressed over Tugger settling down, but a certain tom, with a few problems of his own, tries to make her feel better. Slight TumblexCettie.


**Well would you look at that, I have another Cats fanfic! I was amazed that my last one got such positive feedback from reviewers that i thought surely that can't be a fluke, right? Well then, here's this one then! Now before I say anymore, I went to see the UK tour of Cats at Glasgow last month, and really, it really was worth it to see it in the flesh, certainly a few things in that show that gives me other ideas for future Cats fanfics. Maybe. Now for those who haven't read from me before, I'd recommend reading 'Just a Little Confession' before this as this one is kind of sequel to that and it would save me answering many question that this story might throw out...either that or make a Cat's bio page in the future...**

**So I'll shut up and let you read!**

* * *

**Smile**

Nearly every night in the autumn time in London, the nights would generally be miserable, cold and damp along with the clouds blocking out the stars. Once or twice though however, the Everlasting Cat would make expectations during these nights when the clouds would roll back to relieve the stars and moon. And tonight was one of those rare nights when everything would feel like nothing bad was about to happen.

Too bad it never really translated well with one young bi-colour tom named Tumblebrutus with how he was feeling. Within two nights, it'll be the next Jellicle Ball, and poor old Tumblebrutus still never had a date for it. However, despite that being one issue, it was only just one thing for the young tom to think over as he sat there on the back of the TSE1. Ever since the last Jellicle Ball (his along with many of his friends, their first) a lot had happened in the Jellicle tribe both here in the Junkyard and away in their human owners homes, and quite a lot had been going on with his two brothers, Pouncival and Plato.

Tumblebrutus shivered in the night air as he curled up trying to keep warm. "They weren't half kidding that it was going to be cold tonight," he muttered coldly to himself as he remembered his humans talking about the weather early that day.

Tumblebrutus looked around the junkyard again for any more signs of life; all he knew that Plato and Victoria were away out on a date in Portman Square. Ah yes, those two. His eldest brother had loved Victoria since he was a kitten, but it was only during the last Jellicle ball that _somehow_, the shy and softly spoken tom had finally won her over as his queenfriend and after all this time, the two were still together and only recently announced to a stunned tribe that they were to become mates at this year's Jellicle Ball.

That young couple were probably the most purest couple that Tumblebrutus had ever seen, Pouncival had called their love like something out of those stupid romance novels that their human owner's would read, everyone of the Jellicles pretty much said the same thing, even oblivious cats like Rum Tum Tugger, who wouldn't say much about the younger cats, seemed well aware of this too.

Even if Tumblebrutus was given more nine lives to think it over, he still wouldn't be able to know how Plato had pulled if off, after all the time he and Pouncival had mocked Plato that he was no good and all and that he was never going to get her, in the end though, Plato had gotten the last laugh.

"Lucky," Tumble sighed as he began to scan over the site once more, but it was fairly quiet than normal. Unusual considering that it wouldn't be long 'till the Jellicle Ball would take place and that this place would be filled with all members of the tribe, then he stopped there at that thought. It only reminded him of the fact that he had no date. It wouldn't be much of a bother to him that he have Pouncival for company at least to pull off a few pranks here and there…too bad that is when it came to another problem on his mind with his littermate.

_He_ had a date for the Ball.

Though he and Pouncival had been known to play tricks on their older brother, Tumble was better known for making Pounce not only the runt of the litter, but also unfortunately the butt monkey for many of their antics. They were both born together, but because Tumblebrutus was born at was 11:58 at night and Pouncival later on at 12:07, it technically made Tumble the oldest of the two and Pounce the youngest tom not only among his brothers, but also in the tribe itself. Pounce would never hear the end of it.

Ironically, it was one of these little put downs on his brother that led to Pouncival getting his own back on his brother.

For as far as Tumblebrutus could remember, Pouncival had been best friends with Jemima since they were very young kits, not surprisingly as they were the two youngest cats in the tribe. As time goes, they grow up, and with it, a crush Pouncival had on Jemima.

Tumblebrutus couldn't help but milk the moment when he found out about this and often would make fun of this and one day he did just that and forced out Pounce's feelings for her, with her just so happen to hear it all. From then on, the two had been together ever since that day, and it was on that day when Tumblebrutus had found out that after _helping _(very loosely saying) his brother out with his crush, he had only realized that he out of his fellow siblings that had no one to be with.

Also to add insult to injury that unlike with Plato and Victoria, which Plato tried to win over Victoria's human owners in Baker Street in which he was chased off for thinking him as a stray (Poor Plato never let anyone forget about it), that when Jemima's male human owner, a car mechanic no less, saw Pouncival and Jemima having an affectionate moment in the back garden that unlike with Plato, the man was bemused that his cat had found someone and contacted Pouncival's owners, after noticing the address on Pouncival's new collar that he had gotten not so long ago. After much talk between the humans of both homes, Jemima's owner soon adopted Pouncival.

Thus, only Tumblebrutus and Plato were left living in that house. It would never seem to be the same again without the younger sibling there.

The bi-colour tom sat on his spot thinking it over, if it weren't for him giving Pouncival that little push, he may never have gotten together with Jemima. He felt like he like he should've been very pleased with himself with that fact, however, he wasn't. Was he jealous of his brothers that they had both found someone they wanted to spend their rest of their lives with? Perhaps, then again it did make him sound like a bitter tom.

He found himself staring blankly into space when suddenly he was awoken by giggling not far from where he was. Looking around, he could see it was coming from Pouncival's chair, with it's owner sitting on it and even more surprising to Tumble, Jemima as well. Pouncival would never let anyone on his prized chair, not even Old Deuteronomy was not allowed on the chair, so the fact Jemima was sitting on the chair with his brother was a sure fire indication to Tumblebrutus that Pouncival was serious about this relationship, all he expected was Pouncival was to ask Jemima to be his mate that would put the icing on the cake for him.

Tumble stared at the young couple up on the chair looking up at the night sky with various mutterings that he could only just barely hear.

"Don't want to sound personal or anything like that," Pouncival said turning to look at Jemima with a slightly nervous look on his face.

The rusty black queen giggled. "Like what?"

Pouncival scratched the back of his head in awkward manner. "Well, I'm kinda interested…what is it you find interesting about the moon for?"

Jemima simply smiled and looked at the nearly full moon in the night sky. "It's beautiful…along with stars, the night always has something about it you just can't describe."

Pouncival suddenly cup the side of her face so that their eyes would both meet. "You know, that is only the second most beautiful thing I know in the world."

Jemima raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What's the first?"

The bi-coloured tom blushed and cleared his throat before carrying on talking; he looked pretty nervous about what he was about to say. "…You."

The young queen blushed at him, it was old fashion and clichéd, but she still loved that sort of thing. "Aww, you really mean that, Pouncy?"

"From the heart," Pouncival replied with that goofy grin as Jemima nuzzled him affectionately.

Tumblebrutus on the other hand cringed, since when was Pouncival this corny? Certainly, that old saying that queens can change a tom seemed to be true. For Tumble however, he had had enough of this and began walking away to the other side of the Junkyard to leave the two in peace.

So far, this was not his night.

**XXX**

Tumblebrutus carried on walking towards the other side of the junkyard that rarely was visited by any Jellicle cat; it was a place where he could enjoy the peace and quiet. He carried on walking when he noticed a few feet away that Rum Tum Tugger and Bombalurina were enjoying a moment between themselves sitting on top of a rusty oil drum. Oh yeah, that was another thing that had changed in the junkyard, against all the odds, the Maine Coon and the scarlet queen had decided to settle down.

It was funny now to Tumble that not so long ago, he and his two brothers all had looked up to Tugger as the rebel they all wanted to be when they'd grown up, now that was all over and here was Rum Tum Tugger with a mate. When it came to Bombalurina, the tribe knew that those two had an on/off relationship that one did seem to think wouldn't really work…that was until the day right out of the blue when said they were to become mates.

Quite amazingly though, Tugger hadn't even gone off to flirt on another queen nor try and show off to others that he still had that rebellious side to him, nevertheless though, many toms, including Tumblebrutus himself, couldn't help but throw out bets on guessing how long Tugger was going to keep this up for before he'd start flirting or whatever. Having said though, Tumble couldn't help but think that the Junkyard had gotten boring now since Tugger decided to settle down.

As the patched white and brown tom turned to leave, he then could hear a faint sound that sounded like sobbing. Tumble glanced round wondering where the sound was coming from. Apart from Tugger and Bombalurina, who had now started to leave, there was no one else here.

Then Tumble noticed that the sound was coming from behind a large board of plywood nearby from him. Interested in wondering whom it was that was weeping, he went up and looked behind the piece of wood to see who it was, when he did, he could only feel a sad sense of pity.

It was Etcetera.

For anyone that was a Jellicle cat, _everyone_ knew of how Etcetera felt about Rum Tum Tugger. Jellylorum had said time and time again that the first tom that her daughter had seen after opening her eyes after birth was that certain Maine Coon walking by and immediately fell in love with that tom, and thus, the rest they say, is history.

Despite Etcetera's obsession with Tugger, she had always been a good friend for Tumble and the other young cats in the tribe. Then came that certain piece of news between two cats that sent the little tabby queen into a sad state of depression, all of that fun, high energy that she had, had all but gone.

Even though Tumblebrutus had thought she would eventually get over it despite it being now many weeks later since that day, though he had a lingering thought that she had now developed a grudge on Bomba for what had happened. Despite this, he couldn't help but feel sympathy for Etcetera as the young queen sniffed sadly wiping away her tears, that sight alone made Tumble's heart sink. He knew she couldn't be like this forever and that something had to be done to bring the old Etcetera back.

Slowly, he walked a bit further up to her and remained silent as he knelt down beside her, not knowing at that moment what to do. Then he cleared his throat. "Erm, hello?" He greeted in the kindest tone he could muster.

Upon hearing him, Etcetera craned her head up to face him, Tumblebrutus felt more pity for her when he saw her big, blue eyes nearly red from all the crying she had done. By now she was only sniffing. "T-Tumble?" She uttered, her voice sounding quite scratched, as if she was quite sick.

"Oh Cettie," Tumble sighed sadly. "I…I don't know where to start."

Etcetera didn't reply, instead she sniffed once again and fell back to sit down lying against the wooded board whilst staring out into blank space. "It's all so strange…I had hoped for pretty much all my life that we'd go off into the sunset and life happily ever after…now it's all gone…"

Tumblebrutus remained silent; it truly did hurt him to see her like this. The bi-coloured tom then sat down beside her to other her his company. "You know, my own brother had the same rough patch when he found about Bombalurina."

Etcetera tensed at the name of the red queen. Tumblebrutus mentally slapped himself for bringing her name up; he knew that it was going to take a long time for the relationship between the two queens would improve and that even mentioning her name would bring a lukewarm feeling between them. Nonetheless, the tom carried on the conversation.

"For as long as I can remember, he didn't say it, but always tried to get her attention, of course she didn't think much of him as she would be flirting with all the other toms…" He stopped as he glanced over seeing Etcetera pull her legs and rested her head on her knees. "Then came that day when, you know what, happened, I've never seen Pouncival look that sad, but his best friend Jemima came along, give him the support he needed to get over it and then…not only did he became happy, he found someone that would love him for who he was."

The little queen stared at Tumble with her blue eyes wide open, she and perhaps neither anyone else (except his own brothers) had heard Tumblebrutus talk this mature before. Then her expression turned to a mix of sadness and jealously. True she was ecstatic when she heard that her two friends became a couple, but she then felt that Jemima had been lucky.

"And how's that suppose to make me feel better?" She said with a slight hiss.

The patched brown and white tom then turned his gaze towards the moon. "All I'm saying is that…well, have you thought that somewhere out there…is your certain someone that loves you from afar, but is too shy to even say 'hello'?"

Etcetera remained silent as she thought about it. The thought that she might have a secret admirer had never really crossed her mind. "But…what would that person like about me?"

Tumblebrutus turned his gaze back at her, that trademark smile on his face. "Well, many things really. Your fun, you're full of energy, a great friend and makes everyone's days happy, especially mine." Tumble bit his tongue after letting those last two words slip out. He didn't really mean it like _that_…did he?

Etcetera suddenly felt something that she hadn't felt in goodness knows how long. A smile.

"Yeah that as well," Tumblebrutus noted seeing her starting to grin. "Just smile that always makes me and everyone else happy." By that point, he was making up stuff in the spur of the moment just to make her feel happy.

Then after all that work Tumble had done for her, the smile disappeared and was instead replaced with a look of worry. "But wait! The Ball is not long and I don't think find him in time!"

Tumblebrutus didn't know what to reply to her, and then he remembered early on the thought that had been bothering him all night. "The thing is…I have no one for the Ball either…so I guess you could say welcome to the club."

The young tom's cool composer vanished and had his back up against the wall, this time however it was Etcetera's turn to look concerned for him. Talk about the tables being turned "You…you have no one to go with?"

Neither spoke a word until Tumblebrutus slowly turned to gaze at her with his brilliant green eyes. "Yeah…bit ironic really, me, the funny guy who knows how to get around, hasn't a date. Instead my two brothers are the lucky ones. I've never really said this anyone, you're the only one I've said it to."

The dark white queen was amazed by this little revelation and the fact she was the only one to know about this. Though her wonderment quickly turned to sympathy for him. "Oh Tumble…"

"Well it's not all that bad," Tumblebrutus uttered. "A few of us haven't got dates for this year, Electra, Misto, my Dad even…guess you can't ask for too much." Just at that moment, he unexpectedly felt a lot better. The idea of finding a date for the night felt pretty stupid now. "In fact, as long as I have friends like you, then there is nothing to worry about to be fair."

Once more, he faced her again, and was only too happy to see that smile he loved so much return to her face. The young queen abruptly pulled Tumblebrutus into a bone-crunching hug. "Oh Tumble, thank you so much!"

"Y-Your welcome." He coughed. "Erm…passing out here."

Etcetera realized this and promptly let go of him, in which the two giggled among each other for a bit.

"Just keep that smile," Tumblebrutus added. "Makes me feel better."

Etcetera blushed but then noticed the night sky starting to turn a bit brighter. Daytime. How long had they been talking for? "Oh! It's nearly the morning, I better get back to my human owners."

She turned to leave but stopped, then right out of the blue give Tumblebrutus a quick nuzzle on his cheek and quickly bounded off shouting out 'See you!' to Tumblebrutus, in which the tom, now blushing a dark shade of red, could only utter a small 'bye' to her for feeling amazed to see the old Etcetera back.

He didn't know what might happen next, but Tumble was pretty sure if anything with them needed something to feel happy about…all she had to do…was smile.

* * *

**Ah well, not so Forever alone I'd say. Anyway, was it good or crap then? Or should i start on my big lavish Cats fanfic or maybe do a bio page for then? Please review and stuff, you know the drill.**


End file.
